Doris Dodson???

Jonathan

Jonathan

VFG Member
ANyone know anything about the dress manufacturer Doris Dodson? I have been able to turn up that they were definately in business from before 1939 until after 1956. They seem to be along the same lines as Martha Manning, Nelly Don etc. -- smart off the rack frocks. They also seem to have been located in St. Louis. I am looking for any info as to when they were founded and closed.
 
Almost at the bottom on this link...

http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu/essays/print/shaw.html

Here it says it is a label of Forest Manufacturing..

In the 1930s, many previously anonymous ready-to-wear designers began to surface as important names in the fashion field. The occasional newspaper or trade-journal article mentions ready-to-wear designers by name [fig. 88]. "St. Louis' Designing Women," an article from late 1939, is unusually interesting in that it gives the names and occasionally the salaries of some of the best designers in the St. Louis wholesale trade. Grace Ashley, Grace Durocher, Grace Davile, Bessie Recht (who also taught design at Washington University), Dorothy Garrison, and Marian McCoy are named as being among the best designers for the "Junior" market. Grace Davile is said to have earned $10,000 a year from her employer, the Doris Dodson Company. The Donnelly Garment Company in Kansas City (Missouri) started making their "Nelly Don" dresses in 1916. A twentieth-anniversary publicity booklet proudly stated that the company's "designers create Nelly Dons from...exclusive fabrics and original designs" and that they offer "important hidden values...lingerie strap, generous hems...and side seam allowance."(48) According to Elizabeth Hawes (admittedly not the most unbiased of observers), few ready-to-wear manufacturers concerned themselves with these types of quality dressmaker details.

http://www.retroland.com/pop_view.php?eid=3646&cid=1&decade=1940

And then a couple more links that I don't know will be much help...

http://www.goodlandnet.com/history/1020_main.htm

http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/archives/guides/pdf/urban-league4.pdf


Research done very quickly this afternoon in between mail outs.
 
Wow, great job Linda, I thought I reconized the name so I looked up my old auction ad's and I was right, I found a Dodson but not Doris, my Dodson was a Lilly Dodson which was an upscale Boutique in Dallas. I wonder if there is any relation?
 
From the US Trademark site:

DORIS DODSON
Goods and Services (EXPIRED) IC 025. US 039. G & S: JUNIOR MISSES' STREET, SPORT, AND HOUSE DRESSES. FIRST USE: 19360915. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19360915
Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM
Design Search Code
Serial Number 71536600
Filing Date October 3, 1947
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Registration Number 0500572
Registration Date June 1, 1948
Owner (REGISTRANT) FOREST CITY MANUFACTURING COMPANY DOING BUSINESS AS DORIS DODSON GARMENT COMPANY CORPORATION MISSOURI 1641 WASHINGTON AVENUE ST. LOUIS MISSOURI
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL-2(F)
Affidavit Text SECT 15.
Renewal 1ST RENEWAL 19680601
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD



So, the label was started in 1936, was located in St. Louis, was a Junior line and was still in business in 1968.
 
I never thought to look up the U.S. trademark site... that's a good resource. Thanks all. It looks like we have enough here for a label entry into the label resource. I will photo the label and we can add it!
 
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